Season's Greetings from all the team at the Georgian Papers Programme!
Samantha Callaghan, Metadata Analyst, King’s Digital Laboratory, and Arthur Burns, Academic Director, Georgian Papers Programme, King’s College London
Wreaths created by Liz Losh and Mel Horan from GPP themes on display in Colonial Williamsburg VA 2017. Picture (c) Stephen Salpukas at Willliam & Mary.
All those involved in the Georgian Papers Programme would like to send all visitors to our websites, the scholars associated with the programme as fellows, and the King’s Friends season’s greetings and wish them all the best for 2018, which promises to be an exciting year for the Programme.
As it happens, we have a splendidly seasonal GPP post to share with you! Christmas and the Georgian Papers Programme were recently invoked in an article on the College of William and Mary website which discussed how Elizabeth Losh, an Associate Professor at the College and her husband, Mel Horan, who live within Colonial Williamsburg used the Georgian Papers Programme as inspiration for their Christmas wreaths this year. Christmas is a popular time to visit the historical attraction, and tours of the decorated homes are on offer. You can read all about it here, but we can also share additional pictures of the wonderful wreaths on this page.
A Transit of Venus wreath! (c) Stephen Sapulkas at William and Mary
In relation to the Georgian Papers themselves, a quick search of the material on Georgian Papers Online shows, at present, a small number of letters, papers and menu books that refer to Christmas. In particular there is one letter from Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) to Prince William (1765-1837, later William IV), dated 30 December 1782, in which she writes, ‘We are at present again at Windsor, the Xmas Holiday’s have been spent here in as chearfull a manner as possible as our Small Company would admit of ‘. Prince William was, at that time, serving in the Royal Navy under Lord Samuel Hood near the colonies of North America and the Caribbean.
A GPP sourced seasonal recipe! (c) Stephen Sapulkas at William & Mary
Queen Charlotte goes on, as perhaps any aristocratic mother would to a son in the Royal Navy at that time, though rather lacking in seasonal cheer and goodwill, ‘Above all things do I beseech You William do not become a libertine that Character will neither become nor prosper You … therefore beware of every Step You take dont be ashamed of doing right, but always fearful of doing wrong. which if You remember will greatly contribute to the happiness of your Affectionate Mother.’